AfterDust (up for adoption)
by AsculaRiddle
Summary: She doesn't know why she's lived such a harsh and (mostly) meaningless life, but she has found a purpose. Audite is a Medium, she hears the monsters who have passed. Out of the corner of one eye, the ghost will glide alongside her. In the other, a jar of dust glints. Takes place during a genocide run
1. Chapter 1

The human is not like one you're ever going to meet. Some could say they aren't even human, but don't let that fool you. Their name? Audite. Strange name, I know, but it's none of my business to explain her parent's decision to you.

It's not like she wanted this power, and it's not like she could control it well, either. Walking down the street, the voices of those past haunt the child's mind. It's so cold all the time, but she's grown used to it. Everyday is the same. Same bullies. Same home with a drunken father and a missing mother. Same streets with name calling and taunts. It isn't their fault, but nobody cares.

It wasn't until she ran away that she felt happy. The only voices thrown at her were the ones telling her to keep going. She had almost nothing. A small satchel with a red and green jacket, though she didn't think she'd need it in the summer. Her diary was in the front pocket, and a small zipper back with her frayed toothbrush and small comb. She left the city, and ran through the forest. She fell multiple times, only to stand back up and continue on. She will _not_ give up. The entire forest pushed her on…

That is, until she fell. She screamed the entire way, landing softly on a bed of flowers. She stared up at the sky far above. It was so dark, no wonder she hadn't seen the hole. Or perhaps she did, I don't know. Perhaps she had meant to kill herself, but who knows. The stars far above where barely covered by the trees.

She saw no way to climb out the way she came, so she walked through the corridors… until she came upon a small bed of flowers in the next large room. A flower sat in the center, he seemed to be crying.

"Hello?"

The flower turned to her, it's face was slightly cut and his stem was covered in dust.

"What's going on…?"

To be honest, this isn't the strangest thing the child has seen. From the voices of long dead people, she knew many things. She knew of wars that had long since become a fairy tales. But there were no ghosts here, nobody had died naturally here. At least, no human.

The medium knelt beside the flower, but he just sank below the ground. No trace of him was left behind, but she still patted the earth and looked around for him. She hesitantly continued her search. She passed puzzles that had been solved, or swam through the moats beside the ones she couldn't. Soon, she came to a pile of dust. She would've walked past it if something hadn't stopped her. A voice, one she knew was from somebody long passed.

"What are you?" Surprisingly, it was the voice that asked and not the human. She turned around to the ghost of a child, about her age. Nine, maybe ten. The ghost had bright red eyes and a striped sweater, but the human couldn't tell the color. Ghosts are just black, white, and greys. Eyes were special, the told the color of the soul.

"My name's Audite, but everybody calls me Dice for some reason."

"Isn't that Latin?"

Dice gave a small smile. She quickly changed the subject, though. She was about to ask, but was quickly cut off by the ghost before her. As the ghost stared into Dice's brilliant green eyes, they told her to place her hands over the pile of dust.

It confused Dice, but she did it anyways. Soon, a new ghost hovered around her, a frog with white eyes and blue light dripping off its chin. Dice didn't know how to react. The monster couldn't have died long ago, because it was glowed so bright it was barely transparent. And the fact that the tears were blue...well, it meant he was innocent. He wasn't the attacker, either, because the tears fell from his chin and hit the floor with a silent " _pang"_.

"How did you die?"

"A human, a lot like you, fell from the surface. I was the first monster that they attacked, and I was not the last."

"The human is still down here, too." The ghost child was floating on her back, her arms crossed against her chest.

"Are still killing?"

"Yes."

Dice tried to ask more questions, but the frog didn't know the answers, and the child refused to look at her let alone answer the questions. She wondered quietly if the child had been killed by the human too, but their light wasn't bright like the frog's. It was like a towel had been draped over a light. Every once in awhile they would flicker and nearly disappeared altogether.

"Let's go. By the way, what may I call you?" Dice walked on with the child floating alongside me. Dice looked everywhere except at the ghost. Maybe they didn't even know, but they'd been drawn from their haunting spot by her. Dice had that effect on ghosts. She entered a genuinely haunted place once, only to leave with an old ghost stuck to her after she accidentally found its body.

"Chara. Or Steve. Or sometimes even John. I guess it depends on what they want to call me."

"Who?"

"The human that's been killing everyone down here."

"Um...okay." She just continued, talking with every dusted monster she came across. She could feel them all link to her body just like the old ghost had. She had begun putting them into the small bag she had put her toothbrush in when she left. A candy dish that had fallen from the pedestal. Soon, the two humans (if you count the ghost) came to a "bake sale" for spiders. They had no gold, but begged the spiders for a empty jar. It was labeled "Spider Sider." It held a small amount of dust, a pinch each.

"What about I call you Abi?

"Um...sure? It doesn't really matter." Abi it is. They turned over and leaned towards the wall, hiding their face from Dice.

"Oh, okay." The girl leaned down over two piles of dust, then asked politely to talk with them. One of them was to frightened to speak, the other communicated through hip movements. Dice had fun with the jello-like monster before adding a bit of dust to the jar and waving good-bye.

She was enjoying this. She had only ever gotten along with the dead. They were the only ones who understood her. None of the living seemed to understand or listen to her.

"I want to help them move on."  
"What, why?" Abi finally turned to face Dice. They had a surprised sort of look to them, but they soon shook it off and laid on their back, staring at the ceiling.

"Why wouldn't I? Don't you want to rest?"

"I was at rest."

Dice stopped in her tracks and stared after Abi. The ghost was stopped and sat up to face her. "What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"But I thought that, once a person was at rest, they could never be woken up."

"I'm a special case. Now, can we please get going?" Dice was reluctant, but agreed anyways. She wanted to know, she had to know. Why was Abi so distant? Dice had known a ghost once that had been trapped in the house for centuries, unable to leave. The ghost had become bitter and angry, taking its anger out on the people who moved in.

Dice shivered, fear crawling up her back. Was Abi going to turn out that way?

 _ **Hey, hope you liked it. So, the idea for this story was Abigaming (congrates if the ghost kid's name makes sense to you now) and I want to give her a thx. Give her a round of applause everybody! I'll post...Thursdays?**_


	2. Chapter 2

Soon, they came across a small house, the door swinging wide on its hinges for some reason. Upon entrance, they found all the lights were out, drowning the house in near darkness. But, they didn't stop. Abi motioned towards a staircase, but refused to look towards it. Dice wasn't ready to move on, though, they were exhausted. Abi looked slightly frustrated as they followed her, but they wouldn't say anything. The first room Dice looked in was a bedroom, toys and clothes that seemed to have belonged to a child. Mostly likely human children, by the looks of the clothes.

Down the hall was another bedroom, a master bedroom. It had a queen sized bed and a desk with a journal. The journal (diary, whatever) had a couple pages ripped out and ripped apart. The pages lay scattered around the desk and book, as if a confetti cannon had gone off. Abi gave looked around at the room solemnly. It looked to be empty for years, dust seeming to settle on the books at the far wall.

Out in the hall was a large mirror. Dice stopped and looked in it.

"It's you, Audite."

She smiled as Abi spoke for once. But Abi didn't look at the mirror or her, they stared at their hands folded in their lap.

Dice stared at the mirror for a little longer. Her soft brown hair was dirty and had sticks and leaves stuck in it. A small, yellow flower stuck out of it. Dice kept it there as she tried to pull her hair away from her emerald eyes.

"Are you just going to stand there fixing your hair? If you are hungry, there's pie in the kitchen. If you're tired, suck it up. We have to continue. We have to go on and stop the human before they kill everyone ag-" Abi stopped mid-sentence then turned their back to Dice.

"What?"

But Abi refused to speak. Dice just frowned and headed to the kitchen. A giant pie sat there, larger than her face and to big to move.

"Are there any knives?" She quickly looked through every drawer and pantry for a cutting utensil.

"There aren't any." Dice turned to the only company present, but they refused to look at her again. "Can you just hurry up? I want to leave."

Dice decided to respect their wishes and made her way to and down the staircase. It went for what seemed like forever. She couldn't see anything beyond the light cast by Abi. The ghost was lying on their back again, floating beside the medium with absolutely no emotion showing in their face. Dice recognized that face, she'd seen it so often. Everytime she'd looked in the mirror back home. She knew it was just a disguise, a way to hide all the pain and fear and sadness that was being pushed far down.

But she didn't question it. Though, maybe, she should have.

Right in front of the door was a pile of dust much larger than the others. A purple dress lay in the pile, a slice through part of it and a bit of blood dried on it.

"Not this one, please, don't." Abi seemed to whisper it mostly to themself, but they didn't try to stop Dice as she leaned down to the pile.

"Hello, my child, I am T-" She froze, seeing Abi, who was attempting to hide their face. They didn't look up, but did flinch as the monster spoke. "My child? Ch-"

"It's Abi now."

"A-Abi?"

"Hi mom."

Dice just looked back and forth between the speechless people. The goat monster was just staring at Abi, while Abi just stared at their hands in their lap again. They were all silent for a moment before Dice clapped, startling them all.

"I'm sorry, can I ask what's going on?"

"This is Toriel, my mother."

"Wait, what?"

"She's also the queen of the Underground."

Toriel began scolding her child as Dice turned away, blushing. She didn't want to feel like an eavesdropper, but she couldn't help but grin as the queen pulled her child into a hug. Multiple "I love you"s were said and even more tears were shed. But, soon, Abi pulled away from their mother.

"I-I'm sorry mom. Really, I am. I didn't mean for...that to happen. I didn't want Azzy to get hurt like he did."

"It's not your fault." But Toriel had a small waver in her voice, one that told she was lying. Abi may not have caught it, but Dice recognized it too well. She knew it from every time she'd told herself that something wasn't her fault.

Soon, Dice gave a fake cough, looking at Abi, who seemed to have forgotten she was there. "We need to go. We need to stop-"

"Yeah, I know." Abi began whispering in their mother's ear. Toriel nodded and disappeared. Before moving on, Dice put a pinch of the dust in her jar. With a whisper of "sorry" from both children, they continued on.

They came to a second door before long, and Dice was about to open it, but they stopped.

"Knock knock?" Came a voice from the other side. A man. He voiced out the entire joke himself as the children listened, dumbfounded. "Who's there? You. You who? Hold your horses, I'm coming."

The joke was terrible, and sounded as depressing as the voice outside.

"Knock knock." He started again. This time, Dice ignored Abi's warning and answered.

"Who's there?"

There was a sputter, a cough, then an answer from the man. "Canoe."

"Canoe who?"

"Canoe come out so I can see who you are?"

Dice immediately began opening the door, ignoring the pleas from Abi.

"Stop, Dice! You don't understand, he might be dangerous. You don't even know what he can do! What's he gonna think when he sees you, a human, after his brother was murdered by one?"

So badly did Dice want to question Abi, to know how she knew this, but she did not. She just opened the door wider and slipped out into the frosty white snow.


	3. Chapter 3:The Dust Speaks Again

The skeleton before her was wearing a blue sweater, shorts, pink slippers, and a red scarf. He had dust on his clothes, but Dice figured there was probably a good reason. She was about to introduce herself when suddenly one of the skeleton's eyes blinked out and the other lit up blue. Like blue fire. He raised his hand and she lifted off the ground, nearly dropping the jar.

"Stop, wait! Don't spill the jar!"

Despite the permanent smile on the skeleton's face, Dice could tell he was disgusted.

"Why do you have that?"

"I-I'm a medium, I gathered their dust so I could speak with them if needed!"

Beside dice, the Abi smirked and chuckled. Soon, as Dice remained high above the ground, the ghost began to laugh.

"Oh, would you look at that? Apparently, we can both fly!"

"Shut up, this isn't funny!"

The look of bewilderment reminded Dice that the living couldn't see the dead. She'd gotten to the dead, and they could not only see each other, but also touch and hug and speak to them.

"What?"

"Look, I can prove everything, alright? Just let me down and I'll ask Toriel to...tell me something? A secret maybe?"

"The first joke she told him," Abi said into her ear, ignoring the questioning look she got in return. "Just say it!"

"O-okay. T-the first joke Toriel ever told you?"

Slowly, with much hesitation, the skeleton lowered Dice to the ground. Though, even as her feet touched the ground, his eye remained lit by the blue flames. The child took a shaky breath as she began whispering into the jar. She didn't really need to beg toriel for help like she thought. In fact, Toriel was happy the young child.

"What is it my child?"

"This monster has survived and wants a reason to spare me."

"I-I didn't say that!" But everybody ignored the skeleton as Toriel began telling the joke to the child. Dice giggled behind her hand and grinned almost as wide as the skeleton.

"Now go ahead, my child, tell Sans the joke."

"His name's Sans?"

"Yeah, now go ahead." Toriel tried to give Dice a small kiss on the forehead, but soon found she was unable. Instead, she moved to hug her daughter, but Abi faced away from them and deep into the forest. The queen just gave Dice a small smile before fading out of sight, returning to her body.

"I still miss my ex. But at least my aim's gettin better!"

A tear seemed to form in Sans' eye as he recognized the joke. "T-Toriel?" His fire was long gone as he sank to his knees. "Toriel, I'm sorry, I couldn't stop them. They've killed almost everyone and are already at the core."

"Frisk." Abi hissed the name, their hands clentched into fists and their eyes nearly tearing. She was crying soon, but Dice didn't know who or how to help. On one hand was Sans, who was mourning the death of everyone he cared about, on the other was Abi, the royal child who was supposed to protect their people from harm. They were both crying for the same people, but for totally different reasons.

 ** _Sorry it's so short._**


	4. Chapter 4

Dice shivered as she walked beside Sans, who covered his face from his nose (nose bridge?) down with his scarf.

"That's a cool scarf, did you make it?"

"...it was my brother's…"

She let the conversation drop, but soon Sans stopped in his tracks, his eyes bright. The two children could practically see a lightbulb go off as he realized-

"You're a medium?"

"Um...I sorta thought we got that covered."

Sans grabbed Dice's hand. In a moment, the world seemed to spin, going completely white once, then completely black, then snowing. Dice collapsed to her knees as she struggled not to puke...not that she actually had much in her stomach. She was sitting just beyond the front steps to a large house decorated in colorful lights.

She glanced up at Sans, who was saying sorry, but she couldn't hear him over the sound of her heart beating. Despite not having the muscle to do so, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to the front door of the house.

Haha! See what I did there? No? Okay, I'm just gonna shut up now.

Setting Dice on the couch, Sans brushed her hair out of her face and knelt beside her. He cursed himself. He should've known she wouldn't be able to handle it as well as...never mind.

Great going Sans!

"Shut up!" He yells at nowhere in particular while staring at the roof. I swear, he's got a few screws loose. "Do not!"

Whatever you say, Sans. He put his hand to her forehead as if taking her temperature- wait, would that even work with a skeleton? I mean, he is all bone. Dice's eyes drooped low, whether because of Sans or the restless day she's had, who knows?

"Can I just...sleep here for a while?"

She couldn't hear Sans' response as her brain seemed to go fuzzy and she fell deep into sleep. Sans felt for her pulse, holding his breath until he found it.

He pulled a large blanket off the back of the couch and laid it over the child as Abi reappeared. She always hated it when Sans teleported with the human...the other one.

Abi hovered over her companion for a moment, making sure Sans didn't harm her. The ghost smiled down at her friend before fading to grey. She's not going to return for a little while...

 _ **I'm real sorry everyone. Not only have I written a short chapter, but it's also late!**_


	5. Chapter 5:Papy

Young Dice woke with a start. Her nightmares used to keep her awake all night, but they weren't as bad when she fell down here. Dreams of death and murder and cages.

"Sans?" The room was almost completely dark, illuminated only by a light in the next room. The kitchen, she found out when she peeked around the corner. A plate of what looked like spaghetti sat at the table. Sans was at the table, asleep. "Sans?"

She barely put her hand on his back when he jerked upright, startled. He blinked a few times before turning to Dice.

"What?"

"Um… Are you alright?"  
"No. I warmed up some spaghetti for you. My bro was the cook…" I sat down beside him as he trailed off. The spaghetti wasn't very good, but I've had worse. I finished it while Sans stared at me.

"I can't believe you actually ate that. The other one...well, they never ate it."

He said it as if he'd offered the other human spaghetti multiple times. She ignored it though and took the plate to the sink. She turned the water on, cleaning the plate as Sans watched.

"So, um, I was going to ask you…" Dice trailed off as she turned back to Sans, who had placed his scarf on the table in front of him.

"Can you speak to him for me?"

"As long as some part of him is here. Dust. With humans you can use an object they always had with them."

"The scarf, he wore it all the time."  
Sans' eyes began to tear, but he quickly forced it down. For a moment, his eyes filled with anger and a thirst for revenge. And, oh boy, he was going to get his revenge. Dice picked up the scarf, the ends frayed and a large rip in part of it. She began whispering to it, not completely sure if he would come from the scarf.

"HELLO TINY HUMAN!" Dice screeched as somebody practically yelled from behind her. She spun around to see a tall skeleton shining brighter than any of the others.

"Y-you must be Sans' brother."

"I'M PAPYRUS! AND YOU ARE?"

"I'm Audite, but everybody calls me Dice."

"Is it Papyrus?" Asked Sans, looking up at the child. His eyes seemed hopeful as he watched the child nod. "Can you ask him if...if he's angry at me?"

Dice turned to Papyrus.

"WHY WOULD I BE MAD AT YOU BROTHER?! IT WASN'T YOUR FAULT!"  
"He-um- asks why he would be mad at you if it wasn't your fault."

"I could've saved you. I knew...I knew what the human was capable of."

"I DID TO." Dice stared at the skeleton for a moment, then looked to Sans and back again.  
"What? What did he say?"  
"He says he did too. He knew what the human was capable of."

"Then why? Why Papyrus?" Sans laid his head on the table, hiding his face with his arms. Dice could hear the sobs escape from him, despite how hard he tried to hide them.

"DON'T CRY, BROTHER!"

Papyrus floated to Sans, wrapping his arms around him. Sans flinched, then lifted his head up.

"Papy?"  
"YEP!"

Dice knew Sans couldn't see or hear his brother, but he knew he could feel his presence. She smiled slightly before setting the scarf on the table before leaving the room. She could hear Sans talking with his brother as she laid down on the couch and slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

She smiled at the reuniting of the brothers, but cried inside because they were split up in the first place.

 _ **Sorry to everybody who reads this. I haven't updated in a while because I've been busy and stressed. Forgive me? XD**_


	6. Chapter 6: A dream to show the truth

That night, young Dice had a dream, along with another young child, though they were separated by so much earth. In the dream, they were the only one's in the city.

It started like a normal day for the both of the kids. The city was the same, though it was dark and smelled of dirt and had that smell like it was going to rain. Dice was sweeping the sidewalk when somebody ran past. She could hear them crying...she could sense their unease.

Dice ran after the kid, calling for them to calm down. When the kid ran down a dead-end, Dice stopped, panting.

The kid was younger than she was, maybe about eight. They wore a tattered striped sweatshirt that was covered in dust and blood. The child's eyes were wild as they pulled a knife from their front pocket and lunged at Dice, slicing with her knife. The child, Frisk ran past her and disappeared into the city.

Dice searched until the night fell. It was different now. After Frisk had attacked, people began coming out. The streets became busy and noisy. The playgrounds were filled with children, and the bars were filled with adults. Dice walked on, the day suddenly turning to the grey of a foggy night. She found Frisk in the graveyard eventually. Dice didn't know how she'd got there, she just did.

Frisk was weeping at the foot of two graves, the soil fresh and covered in golden flowers. The names...what were their names?

"Frisk."

The child spun around, their knife in hand as they stared at her. She stepped back as Dice tried to get near.

"Frisk, you have to stop. Don't you understand? Don't you know what you're doing is wrong?"

"Of course I know! But didn't they know? They killed her, and they didn't even care!"

Him?

And suddenly the world shifted. They were on the mountain again, hovering above the crater they had both fallen into. Two young children were running. One looked to be about four, while the other was probably about thirteen. The younger child was running from the other was smiling with her. The other saw the crater just as the younger one stepped over the edge.

With one swift motion, the elder caught the child and threw them out of the way. The elder grabbed a hold of a root as the younger screamed.

" _It's alright, Frisk! Go, go get help!"  
_ The young Frisk ran into the woods, but the girl had fallen long before the girl returned. Dice had gotten a look at the girl's eyes just before she disappeared from view. They were light blue, like the sky. Patience. A toy knife from her sister was in her pocket and would be her weapon, and the blue ribbon she'd gotten from her parents would be left behind for the next humans to find.

Frisk continued weeping until they both woke up in cold sweat. The difference, though, was that Sans was there to ask if Dice was okay, Frisk just got the glaring eyes of a long dead girl.

"Wake up."

 _ **Sorry it's so late and short. Forgive me! XD**_


	7. I'm sorry

**_I'm so sorry everybody. I can't really finish this. You see, I only work out the beginning, the end, and the key parts of the center. I know how to end this, but I just lost all interest in actually writing this. I was going to have it so that Frisk would end up sacrificing themselves when they came face to face with Sans and Dice. Dice, who had been friends with Frisk when nobody else would, went on to break the barrier while Sans used Frisk's soul to revive the monsters whose dust was in Dice's jar._**

 ** _If somebody wants to adopt this PM me. You can also change the end or something but please don't make Frisk and Chara into psychopaths if you can help it._**


End file.
